www.irishlivesremembered.com Issue 33 March 2016 Publisher Eneclann Genealogy Magazine Joint Editors Eileen Munnelly & Shane Fitzsimons Email: [email protected] Welcome to the Easter 2016 edition of Irish Lives Remembered , in Design/Production Manager this issue we commemorate the 1916 centenary. And here in Michael Munnelly Ireland on the 100th anniversary of the birth of our nation, it is a joy to see that interest in our past has never been so keen. It’s heart- Editorial Contributors warming to see such fascination across the generations as to how In Ireland our yesterdays continue to affect the present. Joe Duffy, Fiona Fitzsimons, Paul MacCotter, Brian Donovan, Helen Moss, But you probably all know this already, or else you wouldn’t be Shane Fitzsimons and Michael Merrigan reading Ireland’s top genealogy magazine. In the U.K. Before we tell you just what’s in this issue, we’d also like to tell you Jayne Shrimpton that Irish Lives Remembered has changed publisher. Eileen Munnelly and her team at Millennium Media are handing their In America creation over to a new team at Eneclann – a name that some of you Maureen Wlodarczyk & Damien Shields may know. We’d like to salute Eileen for creating such a winning In New Zealand title, for trusting us to continue to publish it, and we wish her all Geraldene O’Reilly the best in the future. Advertising Right, so what’s in this issue? There’s quite a bit on 1916. In a must- Tommy Martin read Fiona Fitzsimons talks to broadcaster and historian Joe Duffy, [email protected] whose recent book explores the short lives and violent deaths of the children of 1916. And in his own column, Joe himself explains Write to: how he found the motivation to write what has become Ireland’s Eneclann best-selling work of history on 1916 this year! 5 Whitefriars Aungier Street Helen Moss, Eneclann genealogist, recently researched Brendan Dublin 2, Ireland O'Carroll's Family at War in 1916, for the BBC. We reveal how three tel: + 353 1 671 0338 of Brendan's uncles were out in Easter 1916. And, Brian Donovan fax: + 353 1 671 0281 explains how to trace what your ancestors were up to during Easter Week. email: [email protected] In a new series, Dr Paul MacCotter begins tracing the great www.irishlivesremembered.com surnames of Ireland and revealing where they sprang from, he Irish Lives Remembered begins with O’Sullivan. Geraldene O’Reilly researches the Irish in New Zealand and learns @irishlives how gold fever of the 1800s led to the creation of great fortunes for Irish Lives Remembered Genealogy Magazine is some of them at least. published quarterly by Eneclann Ltd. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a From the USA, Maureen Wlodarczyk looks at how to uncover your retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the Irish ancestors in the Green Mountain State of Vermont – and publisher. Damian Shields uncovers some tales of the Vermont Irish in the US Civil War. Opinions and comments expressed herein are not necessarily those of the publisher. All prices and We hope you will find tales and examples to inspire you as you rates are correct at time of going to press but are subject to change. While every effort has been research your own family history. We also hope to share with you made to ensure that all information contained in tips that will speed your search. this publication is factual and correct at time of going to press. Eneclann Limited cannot be held And at the end of the day, that’s what this magazine is about – responsible for any inadvertent errors or omissions contained herein. Copyright @2016 Eneclann Ltd., family. So if you enjoy it, please share it with a friend or a relative. All rights reserved. By Abigail Rieley The most eagerly awaited launch in dec- Up until last year that meant in most cases ades for Irish genealogy - the indexed a trip to Ireland to look at the original reg- form of the Irish Catholic Parish records - isters, held on micro lm in the National Li- arrived on Findmypast this month. brary in Dublin. Then last year the Nation- al Library put the digitised records online For anyone tracing their Irish roots (and – an absolutely huge step, as now any- don’t forget 40 million people worldwide one, anywhere in the world could search claim Irish heritage), this is akin to sever- them, painstakingly, page by page. al Christmases and birthdays coming to- But now all you need is a name. All you gether. Births, marriages and deaths are need to do is go online to Findmypast and the roots of any family tree - and it is only type your name into the search screen for through parish records that you can go births, marriages or deaths and a rough back beyond the mid 19th century. date and you can nd a record in sec- onds. The civil registration of all births, marriages You will still need to check each result to and deaths was only brought in in Ireland see if it’s the right one and there’s still the in 1864. In the absence of 19th century chance that the record you’re looking for records (which of course were largely de- simply didn’t survive - but instead of tak- stroyed in the Four Courts blaze of 1922), ing hours, even days to nd this out, now the parish records are your best source all you need are a couple of minutes, with for going back before civil registration. a cup of tea, in the comfort of your own home. Between 1537 and 1870 the Church of There are a total of 10,638,310 records in Ireland was the of cial church in Ireland total and they cover 200 years of Irish his- and hostilities between the established tory across all 32 counties of Ireland. There church and the Roman Catholic church are records of baptisms, marriages and meant catholic record keeping was burials from all of the surviving parish reg- fraught with dif culties. Few records sur- isters as well as congregational records in- vive before the rst half of the 18th Cen- cluding con rmations and parish lists. tury but record-keeping improved after Archbishop Paul Cullen called the Synod The records cover most of the 1086 par- of Thurles to standardise the teachings, ishes in Ireland with the earliest records administration and sacraments of the being baptisms from Waterford, Wexford, church. Tipperary and Galway. Due to rather in- formal burial practices in the 19-century The parish records have been online since there are few surviving burial registers be- last year but this new indexed version is fore 1900. truly revolutionary. Up until now the only way to nd someone was to painstak- ingly go through each register page by page, peering at the spidery 19th-cen- tury handwriting and hoping you would nd the name you were looking for. There are a few search tips that will help you get the most out of the records on Findmypast. Firstly, always make sure you have the name variants box ticked on any name you search for, whether the main name, spouse or parents. Names might have been spelt in a variety or names and you want to make sure you pick up all possible results. A further complication is that many re- you’re looking for try searching without cords were written in Latin. In order to nd the pre x, as many dropped it. Latin versions of names you can use a wildcard search. By using an asterisk after Finally always remember to look at neigh- the rst few letters of a name up will nd bouring parishes and counties as people all names beginning with those letters. So often travelled across these local borders Pat* would nd Patrick, Pat, Patricia but to marry or to nd work. also Patricus, the Latin version of Patrick. The parish records are the most signi - cant addition to Irish genealogy in years. You can nd all the children of a marriage If you’re looking for your Irish ancestors by searching for the names of the parents you’ll nd yourself using them again and but not specifying the main name. again. Also if you are searching for a name with a pre x like O’ or Mc’ and can’t nd what The parish records are the most signi cant addition to Irish genealogy in years christ church UNITED PRESBYTERIAN & METHODIST Historic Parish Registers at Christ Church, Limerick, published online For the rst time the historic parish regis- The project to digitise and publish the re- ters held by Christ Church Limerick are cords was initiated by John King, CEO of being made available online. They con- the Irish Ancestry Research Centre (IARC), tain the names of thousands of people working in partnership with Eneclann and who were members of the Presbyterian Findmypast. Eneclann digitally imaged all and Methodist congregations of Limer- the records at high resolution preservation ick city as well as Kilrush in County Clare standard. This work was done for free and and Killarney in County Kerry. Dating from donated to Christ Church so they could re- 1813 they document the lives of these tain ownership of their own records, both non-conformist communities, with details original and virtual. Findmypast transcribed of baptisms, marriages and church at- all the records and, with the images, pub- tendance.